..don't know if you followed my other posts, but with the dva gallery annual tiki arts show on the horizon (june), i wanted to get a jump on a few pieces and thought i might start a post for folks to watch the work unfold.....i don't really carve, but some may find this interesting.....but i am also posting this here to stay motivated...I am going to make some vintage tiki bar sign replicas. This is something i wanted to get under way for some time now and figured now is the time....some will hang on the wall, some will be free standing...and some you can actually sit on (you'll see later). Up first will be a wall hanging version of the old aku-aku sign from las vegas......with the help of Pariarts paul, I was able to get the letters cut for the face of the sign.....we matched the type as close as we could....I may have to do a little work on the "o"'s to make them round all around (not your fault paul). The sign itself will be about 4" thick to house the electric hardware. The letters will light up in the proper colors of the sign and the wiggly neon border on the sheild i hope to do in flex neon....The spears will be free floating, two out the top and the bottoms out the....well...the bottom, of course.....here's a pic of the work Paul did.....i will post more pics later as it unfolds. I will also be taking on the pitcairn hotel sign as well as a couple others so stay tuned!!

here's the actuall sign.....i'm only making the sheild and spears part of the sign for this particular one....

I know, I know I should wait to see what happens and probably not ask a dumb question but..... You mention the letters are going to light up in appropriate colors, but then it's mentioned they are cut out of 1/4" fiberboard -hmmmm, so, are they transparent? If not, how are they going to light up with appropriate colors?

On 2007-02-24 08:09, jpmartdog wrote:This is a great project to watch unfold! Thanks for this thread.

I know, I know I should wait to see what happens and probably not ask a dumb question but..... You mention the letters are going to light up in appropriate colors, but then it's mentioned they are cut out of 1/4" fiberboard -hmmmm, so, are they transparent? If not, how are they going to light up with appropriate colors?

The fiberboard is going to have a clear arcylic backing behind the entire face, then, using either thinner colored arcylic behind the letter openings i'll be able to light them up in the right colors.....the added bonus being that when the sign is turned off, the letters will still be colored because of the colored arcylic, as opposed to being all white when the sign is off had i gone with just a translucent white acrylic backing.......if this sounds confusing don't worry...as this takes shape you will be able to see what i mean.

..well...as soon as the stuff arrives from Paul, which should be in the next day or so, i'll get started.

..well, this is what i accomplished today...as you can see, this is the formative stage of the actual sign housing.....basically it just needs a little sanding and it's ready for primer and paint....the back shows the removal panel which will allow me to not only install the light fixture and other structural elements, but allow me to change the light bulb when necessary......the next step from here is to make the back panel and then start mounting the spears..once the spears are in place, i can focus on the lighting fixture and the flex neon border that goes on the outside of the sign.....if anyone has any questions about a certain aspect of this or how i did a particular thing on this feel free to post here......i wanted this to be more of a "follow-along-and-see-where-it-goes" type of thread as opposed to a "how-to", but i would be happy to explain any aspect of this as it goes along......stay tuned!!!

On 2007-03-06 12:04, Haole Kat wrote:Lookin' good! Thanks for the pics. I love seeing things like this come together. From the looks of it, you're gonna have a great, clean sign.

Josh

thanks!! i'm taking some liberties with the design...i decided to keep the current typeface on "polynesian food"...it's not the exact same match as the original but more dynamic looking...the face will be painted brown with the same geometric pattern as the original, however on the sides of the sign i'm going to use that brown fleck-stone paint....it looks good and will add a textural dimension to the sign....i also dislike the original colors of the spears in the photograph....i'm going to keep the tips red but probably make the bands black and white and the spears themselves a natural wood finish as opposed to the blue and purple bands. oh yeah and i'm changing the color of the lettering....aku aku will still light up red, exotic drinks will still be white, but i'm making polynesian food light up yellow instead of green.....i like the look in the original of the yellow letters when the neon is off......speaking of neon, i just placed an order today..should be here in a couple days.

Looks like a great job with the wood working. I think your final shape came out really nice. The outside shape is bent thin plywood? Can't wait to see the next step in the process. You are creating an amazing piece I think.